Matt Harvey’s time in New York comes to merciful end

The time had come for the New York Mets to part ways with beleaguered right-hander Matt Harvey, and he was finally designated for assignment on Friday.

There might not be a more difficult city in the world to play in for an athlete going through a rough patch than New York City. Countless athletes have been chewed up and spit out by the Big Apple — even when the goings pretty good. On Friday afternoon, New York Mets right-hander Matt Harvey became the city’s latest casualty.

Admittedly, Harvey’s demise, or at least the level of embarrassment he was forced to endure while attempting to return from surgery from thoracic outlet syndrome, was his own doing. When Harvey first arrived in the big leagues the Mets and their fans could tolerate the parties late into the night at 1Oak with Henrik Lundqvist, the gallivanting about with supermodels, the Dark Knight persona, the arrogance, the late arrivals to team meetings to an extent. All of that plays when you’re pitching well enough to start the All-Star Game in your home stadium.

When you’re sporting a 5.93 ERA for three years running, sulking over demotions to the bullpen, reportedly out partying in Los Angeles the night before a game in San Diego and refusing a trip to the minor leagues to work through your issues — well, that’s not going to play in any city, let alone New York.

So, there it is. The end of the Matt Harvey Era with the Mets. There were some good times in the early going, but in the end, the big right-hander was his own worst enemy.

"The designation will occur on Saturday, Alderson said. The Mets will have seven days either to make a trade or release Harvey outright.“My guess,” Alderson said,” is that there are people out there who are willing to take a shot on Matt Harvey.”"

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Ultimately, this is not the end of Matt Harvey in the major leagues. Someone will take a chance on trying to rehabilitate his career because his best form was staggeringly good. It’s anyone’s best guess whether he will ever be a useful big leaguer again, but it was not going to happen in New York. The Mets cut their losses before an ugly situation became even uglier. His career started with such excitement, but he will be remembered in New York as the shell of a pitcher who was booed off the mound after allowing three walks and five runs in mopup duty.

This should have been a sad occasion for the Mets, but keeping Harvey around any longer would have been prolonging the inevitable. The Mets put a once-great pitcher out of his misery and can move forward without a sizable cloud hanging over the clubhouse.